Monday, January 26, 2015

Body Image-Thunder Thighs

I distinctly remember being a teenager and being struck by a Nike ad where a woman talked about her strong thighs and being a grandmother and bouncing a child on those thighs. It struck me because it was so counter to many messages I've seen of women hating their bodies and I wished I had ripped it out to save. Cut to last week when one of my friends posted the below; my memory of the ad was that it actually featured a black and white photograph of a woman but the text is the most important part.

Writings like this continue to matter to me in my day to day thinking about my body. I am striving for strength and health in my body regardless of it matches the weird media created images I can imagine. I was reminded again of this during my two (!) workouts today, a thirty minute boot camp and a sixty minute barre class, where we were constantly reminded to maintain good posture and to reach with strength and purpose. This reminds me to think of all that my body can do (for example, I am on track to complete 1,000 burpees this month) and to praise it and reward it with more challenging workouts and delicious food instead of poking at what I perceive to be its flaws. I hope you find the same message inspiring :)